I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to user manipulatable gutters or drain troughs for buildings. More particularly, this invention relates to gutters that a user may forcefully tilt to expel debris while the user remains on the ground.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Gutters are well known in the roofing, construction and building maintenance industries. Gutters are commonly used to channel water from the roof of a building to the ground in a systematic and controlled manner.
Conventional gutters line the edges of the building roof. The gutters collect and convey water to downspouts. The downspouts redirect the water downwardly into a drain pipe. The drain pipe empties the collected water at ground level. Thus, the water flows from the building roof to the base in a controlled manner that does not harm the building or its surroundings.
A problem associated with the use of conventional gutters is that they often become blocked or filled by debris. Gutters often collect pine needles, leaves, shingle debris, nuts, twigs and other materials. These substances are commonly deposited on roofs by overhanging trees, birds or the wind. Gutters become jammed when debris is washed off the roof and into the gutter by falling rain or melting snow or ice.
Clogged gutters do not perform satisfactorily. The deposited debris accumulates in the gutters, downspouts and the drain pipes. This accumulated debris prevents the water from flowing and exiting the gutter system properly. Eventually, the gutter fills and water spills over the sides of the gutter.
Therefore, a reliable method of cleaning gutters is necessary.
Several prior art devices have attempted to deal effectively with the problems associated with cleaning gutters. These devices may be grouped into two broad categories, tiltable gutters and tools for cleaning gutters.
Some tools for cleaning gutters require the user to climb upon the roof of the building to clean the gutter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,780 is designed to remove debris from gutters. However, it is dangerous for users to climb upon roofs or to try and clean the gutters from a ladder.
Other tools permit the user to remain upon the ground while raking or moving or pushing some device through the gutter to remove debris therefrom. Examples of these types of tools are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,196,927 and 4,310,940. However, these tools must be properly manipulated from the ground to effectively clean the gutters. The operator must also avoid hangers or fixtures placed at regular intervals along the length of the gutter. Such ground operated cleaning devices are often costly and difficult to operate. It is difficult for an operator to effectively clean a gutter without being able to watch the tool in action.
The other category of devices are tiltable gutters. Examples of this type of device are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,807,406, 4,837,987, 4,669,232 and 4,745,657. These types of devices generally provide for the tiltable mounting of the gutter. To clean the gutter, the operator manipulates the gutter to tilt it to empty the debris therefrom.
Several problems are associated with the use of these prior art devices. Most prior art devices are constructed from metal parts that tend to rust in the gutter environment. Some prior art tiltable gutters rely upon auxiliary tools to tip and straighten the gutters. These tools are easily lost or misplaced and may also present hazards in and of themselves when used near electrical power lines. A problem the prior art fails to address is the path of the dumped debris. The prior art tiltable gutters simply dump the debris straight down, often upon the operator.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a tiltable gutter which avoids the problems associated with the prior art. A desirable gutter would be easily and economically assembled out of existing, conventional plastic components. An improved gutter system would also need to be flexible to accommodate various configurations at the job site and lightweight to ease installation. A plastic gutter system would require no rust prevention nor would it require lubrication to perform tilting operations.
An ideal gutter system would not require the operator to retain separate tools to tilt or clean the gutters. The improved system would permit the operator to manipulate the gutter to expel the debris in an arc away from the building base. This would facilitate the easy clean up of the debris while also preventing the debris from bombarding the operator.